A firestorm of stars 🔥 This NASAHubble image takes a close-up look at Centaurus A, one of the brightest galaxies in Earth's night sky. At some point in the past, Centaurus A collided with another galaxy; the resulting shockwaves caused clouds of hydrogen gas to compress, setting off a firestorm of newly-forming stars. These stellar hot spots can be seen in red here, peeking out through the galaxy's dust. Hubble took this image in 2010 with its Wide Field Camera 3. Installed on the orbiting telescope in 2009, WFC3 can study the universe in wavelengths from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared—and all the visible light in between. Image description: Bright stars light up a cloud of cosmic dust from behind; the delicate whorls of dust stretch from the top-left to the bottom-right of this image. Reddish patches of newly-forming stars are scattered throughout the cloud, with white and blue stars filling the rest of the image. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/...